FLOOD KILLS 11 PEOPLE IN NORTHERN MOROCCO

Flash floods from heavy rains in northern Morocco killed 11 people overnight when their homes collapsed, the Interior Ministry said on Friday. It said all the victims were in Driouch hamlet in Nador province, 500 km (300 miles) north of Rabat.

At least 25 people were killed in several Moroccan provinces in the past two weeks in floods triggered by heavy rains, according to local media. Morocco, which suffers cyclical droughts, received its highest levels of rains in 35 years for the Sept.17-Oct 23, accodring to local disaster and weather officials

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

MORGAN TSVANGIRAI TO ATTEND SUMMIT

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will attend a summit next week meant to rescue a stalled power-sharing deal and use it to lay out his grievances against President Robert Mugabe, the MDC said on Friday.

Tsvangirai had threatened to boycott the talks, saying an election may be needed to break a deadlock in negotiations with Mugabe over control of cabinet seats in a new government.

He snubbed a similar meeting in Swaziland on Monday citing Harare’s refusal to give him a new passport. But the MDC said on Friday he would attend the October 27 summit in Harare.

“Monday’s platform presents us with a perfect opportunity to articulate our compelling case for equitable and sustainable power-sharing in a unity government. So we will be there…,” Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

The MDC says Mugabe is trying to seize important ministries and sideline the opposition and Chamisa cited a “litany” of ZANU-PF actions he said went against the spirit of a power-sharing deal signed more than a month ago.

“You have the issue of the passport, the hate language used by state media, threats by war veterans, all those things will be presented to SADC and in the process (we will) try to make ZANU-PF see the profit of working together,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s militant war veterans threatened this week to “take action” against Tsvangirai. The MDC has accused war veterans loyal to Mugabe of attacking its supporters.

Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed the power-sharing deal brokered by South Africa’s former president Thabo Mbeki on Sept 15 but it has since stalled over who should run which ministries

.SOURCED FROM REUTERS

IVORIANS UPSET OVER TOXIC TRIAL VERDICT

People in Ivory Coast have expressed disappointment following a trial over the dumping of hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste in Abidjan in 2006.

They said Trafigura, the Dutch company that shipped the waste, should have faced more scrutiny.

Two people were sentenced to 20 years and five years in jail over the waste, which was blamed for 17 deaths and widespread health complaints.

In 2007, Trafigura paid an out-of-court settlement relating to civil claims. The company never admitted liability, saying the $200m (£108m) payment was made out of sympathy for the Ivorian people.

In March 2008, the Ivorian Court of Appeal ruled that there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges against the company. Denis Yao Pipira, head of the Federation of Associations of Toxic waste victims in Ivory Coast, said the full truth of the incident had not come out.

“It’s absolutely necessary that the owner of the waste, the company Trafigura that chartered the Probo Koala boat [carrying the waste], have a chance to be questioned for their actions and to say which Ivorians they dealt with,” he said.

The BBC’s John James reports from Abidjan that satisfaction over a rare verdict being reached was tempered by frustration that some people, including high-level political figures, were not held to account.

“Me, as an individual person, I couldn’t get to organise the papers to bring a boat of toxic waste into Abidjan,” said one man. “It’s not possible!”

“We don’t have justice here in Ivory Coast.”

SOURCED FROM BBC

DJIBOUTI THREATENS WAR WITH ERITREA

Djibouti’s president has said his country will have to go to war with Eritrea unless the UN acts to resolve growing tension over a border dispute. Djibouti has accused Eritrea of invading its territory.

The Eritrean ambassador to the UN denied that his country had taken any land from Djibouti. Both France and the US have troops in Djibouti, and its border with Eritrea lies at a key strategic point at the mouth of the Red Sea.

Eritrea’s ambassador instead accused Ethiopia of moving troops to the border of the three countries. Since Eritrea gained independence in 1993, the Horn of Africa country has been involved in two serious conflicts over territory with its neighbours.

Clashes between Eritrea and Djibouti earlier this year left nine Djiboutian troops dead and 60 injured. On Thursday, Djibouti’s President Omah Guellah appealed to the UN Security Council to help resolve the dispute.

“Continued inaction in whatever form not only will encourage but will benefit Eritrea’s attitude,” he said. “This would only give my country one option, the option of war.”

In June the UN Security Council called on Eritrea and Djibouti to agree to a ceasefire, stressing that Eritrea should pull its forces back, the BBC’s Laura Trevelyan reports from the United Nations.

France, the former colonial power in Djibouti, is working on presenting a plan to the Security Council reiterating demands for Eritrea to withdraw its forces, she says. France also wants the two sides to talk to each other about their disputed border.

SOURCED FROM BBC